It has long been recognized in the field of commercial art that an artist can produce a drawing from a static image by optically transmitting that image onto a working surface, such as a canvas or a drawing paper, by utilizing reflective or semi-reflective surfaces.
To accomplish the aforesaid optical transmission of an image, numerous devices have been fabricated (as illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,323,415; 3,476,473; and 5,052,797).
The use of reflective or semi-reflective surfaces to accomplish image transmission has one serious drawback. Very often, the transmitted or transferred image is visually obstructed by the artist's hand and/or by the artist's hand-held utensil.
Consequently, when doing their work, commercial artists have adapted themselves to ignore or disregard the obstructed work surface area, as presented by an opaque hand and/or artist's tool. The view of the solid, unwanted hand and/or utensil nonetheless remains a disruptive or annoying inconvenience, which is tolerated and accepted as a natural convention over which an artist has no control.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,544 discloses an optical apparatus for the transmission of a virtual image to facilitate an individual's copy or reproduction thereof onto a working surface. The optical apparatus provides an image transfer that is more realistic than apparatuses of the prior art because of the illusion that the image is in actual contact with the working surface, when in reality the image impinges only a transparent medium. In addition, the invention provides a more effective image transfer than conventional devices by not including an opaque transfer of the artist's hand and/or art utensil, but rather by rendering the illusion that the artist's hand and/or art utensil is transparent. The optical apparatus consists of a supporting frame upon which is mounted a light source, an upper transparent support plate, a lower plate, and a working surface on which is disposed canvas or paper for receiving the artist's final, copied image or work.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,085 by Grimm discloses an optical transformation drawing apparatus in which an image is projected by a projector on to a rear face of a projection screen so that a draftsman can trace on the front face of the screen the image transmitted through the screen, both the projection screen and a projector support frame supporting the projector are mounted on a fixed frame to pivot about an axis with the projector support frame and the projector thereon acting as a counterweight for the screen and with the projector support frame arranged parallel to the pivot axis, a mirror being provided to deflect the image from the projector on to the rear face of the screen.
One of the objects of the present invention is to provide the transmission of an image without an observer having to view the opaque obstruction of his or her hand and/or utensil onto a glass or Plexiglas plate positioned above the working surface.
The current invention also seeks to render the illusion of transferring an image to a work surface, such as a canvas or drawing paper, whereby that image appears to be in actual contact therewith, and, therefore, providing a more realistic and more workable view of the image to be reproduced.
Another object of the invention is to give the artist the ability to draw or paint a picture or portrait to a more exact dimension and likeness of a subject without having to contend with the intermittent body movement of a live model.
Still another object of the invention is to prevent any distortion of an image when a foreign object is placed between a second plate made of glass, clear plastic or the like and the working surface, regardless of the object's shape, density or color.
A further object of the invention is to reduce the time normally required to render a portrait or a sketch.